Businesses eye local opportunities

New findings from a survey conducted by global office provider Regus
indicates the number of Vietnamese companies seeking business
opportunities in the domestic market is 260 percent higher than those
looking overseas.

The one-month poll, which surveyed more than
200 Vietnamese businesses, is a part of global study which collected the
opinions of more than 20,000 senior executives and business owners
across 95 countries.

The research proves that 42 percent of the
companies are seeking domestic growth, while only 17 percent look
forward to growing internationally.

According to the research,
the five most important barriers to international growth by Vietnamese
firms were the need to hire top-quality staff (89 percent), lack of
access to flexible office space (84 percent), lack of market information
(74 percent), lack of local knowledge and connections (63 percent) and
the need to set up a local distribution network (63 percent).

The
focus on home-grown growth is even more significant in emerging
markets, where three times as many companies (51 percent) were seeking
domestic growth compared to the number of companies seeking growth
overseas.

This provides evidence that more people in developing
countries have started to benefit from the results of economic recovery,
as consumer confidence has begun to recover and reliance on exports has
diminished.

Serge Dupaux, country manager at Regus Vietnam, the
global workplace provider, stated that there has been an important
reversal in the past two years, with firms now experiencing more growth
from domestic markets than through overseas expansion. The trend
highlights how important it is for businesses to remain flexible and
scalable so that they can respond to market volatility but also
highlights an important increase in consumer purchasing power in
emerging economies.

"Regardless of whether businesses are
expanding in new markets in their own country or abroad, they rely on a
series of key factors. They need to access reliable and up-to-date
market information, to have a network, and to have easy access to a
number of options when considering the best location to set up. In
addition, flexible working space allows businesses to rapidly react to
the markets and keep their capital free for investment in further
growth," he said.

Founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 1989, Regus is based in Luxembourg and listed on the London Stock Exchange.-VNA